Filmclub: moved by the movies

As Filmclub launches its Power of Film campaign, leading lights from cinema and the arts select their most powerful film moments.

Can watching a film change your life? For Dame Helen Mirren, the answer is yes. And she can pinpoint it to the moment she saw Michelangelo Antonioni’s arthouse classic L’Avventura as a curious teenager.

“I saw it in a smelly fleapit cinema in Brighton,” she says. “We didn’t go to the cinema when I was young, and we didn’t have television. And this film made me realise how wonderful, how magical cinema could be.”

The ability of cinema to open up a world of possibility for young minds is the force behind Filmclub, a charity founded by writer Lindsay Mackie and director Beeban Kidron. Set up in 2006, it runs programmes in 6,500 UK schools, offering children films beyond the blockbuster fare at their local multiplex.

The films, which cover everything from 101 Dalmatians to 12 Angry Men, comedies, dramas and documentaries, must fulfil four criteria: they have to engage, inspire, challenge and entertain. More than 180,000 children have benefited from the scheme, which is part-funded by the Department of Education and counts Steven Spielberg among its supporters.

“Film is an accessible way for children to discover themselves and the world beyond them,” says Kidron. “Children watch To Sir With Love and marvelling at the way social attitudes have changed. They see Hotel Rwanda, which provoked outrage, and Schindler’s List, which provoked tears and hope.”

On Wednesday 2 March Filmclub launches its Power of Film campaign. It includes Afghan Star, about Afghanistan’s version of Pop Idol, to spark discussion about life in other countries, and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth to provoke debate about climate change.

Colin Firth

"I am going for this year’s fine crop: the kitchen scene in Blue Valentinebetween Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling; Robert Duvall’s confessional speech at the end of Get Low; all of Jeff Bridges in True Grit."

Helen Mirren

I would say Antonioni’s L’Avventura was the film I first got really excited about. I had seen fifth-run American movies, but this was the first time I had seen a European film. I just found it very uplifting.

Kristin Scott Thomas

In The Bridges of Madison County, Meryl Streep puts her hand on Clint Eastwood’s shoulder: she is trying to hang on to a moment that is very fragile.

Andrea Riseborough

In Key Largo,when Humphrey Bogart, without moving a muscle in his face, feels total tranquillity – and then anger. I was almost sick when I saw that for the first time.

David Suchet

Kind Hearts and Coronets starred Alec Guinness in eight roles. He was stunning in all of them, especially as Lady Agatha D’Ascoyne. I was bowled over by it.

Jim Broadbent

It must be Michael J Pollard in Bonnie and Clyde. I thought, there is a character actor having fun. It opened up a world of possibilities for me. I somehow identified with him – and he had a funny face, hadn’t he?

Steve Buscemi

It would be Angels With Dirty Faces and the look on James Cagney’s face before going to the electric chair, when he has to decide if he will die a coward or not for the good of the Dead End kids. He was brilliant. I love him.

Mike Leigh

Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows) is a great film about growing up. Truffaut is a great film-maker and there is a wonderful season of his films at the moment at the BFI.

Terry Gilliam

Stanley Kubrick’s The Paths of Glory for his tracking shots through the trenches. I became aware that the camera can be a character in the piece. The opening sequence in Brazil is basically a homage, or a rip-off